In This Issue - Michigan Runner

Senior Dan Jackson clocked an 8:55.6 for a
full two miles at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Not bad for someone who nearly went out for
golf as a freshman. “He can shoot a 70,” says
Dudash. “Lex and Tony Nalli did a great job
recruiting him for cross country.”
Of Jackson, Meyer says, “He’s a terrific,
polite, soft-spoken person. But there’s a fire
inside him when he wants something. He’s
solid.”
Jackson, second to Aprill in the D-2 cross
meet and track state champ in the 1600 and
3200 meters, will attend Notre Dame this
fall, as will Marissa Treece.
Meyer reveals that at the Detroit Athletic
Club function where both received athlete of
the year honors, he prodded Treece to tease
the shy Jackson. When she was asked by
reporters why she chose Notre Dame, she
quipped, “Because Dan Jackson is going
there.”
“He turned about six shades of red,”
says Meyer.
Lest anyone think that Dexter is a onestar
program, they need to consider the rest
of the roster. Ryan Neely had a great freshman
year, two down seasons, and came
through with all-state performances as a senior.
He’s Harvard-bound.
Aprill won the D-2 cross title last fall
with the fastest time of any of the divisions.
He’s back for another year. Disappointed by
his track season and by missing the Foot
Photo courtesy of Ross Martin
Andrew Martin
Locker nationals by 11 seconds, he says, “I
want to let my training show.”
Aprill is also the team’s comic relief.
“Different people have different ways of
relaxing. My best races have come when I’ve
been relaxed and joking around. I think it
helps the team stay a little less tense.”
Sophomore Jason Bishop placed third in
the 3200 (9:24.79) at the D-2 track meet in
June, and the next day at the Dexter-Ann
Arbor Run set a pending American record for
age 15 in the half-marathon, clocking
1:10:15.
Ben Steavenson will miss a few weeks at
the start of the 2007 cross season because he
has qualified for the Junior Elite World
Championships in the triathlon in Hamburg,
Germany.
And so on. We don’t have the space to
name all the young men the Dexter coaches
are excited about. That’s the beauty of a program
like this. It’s about quality people.
Dudash can go on forever about the
team’s other talents in academics, music and
more. He says, “I don’t care if they’re fast or
not. I would love to coach quality people like
this for the rest of my life.”
Jeff Hollobaugh - teacher, coach, writer,
announcer and founder of michigantrack.org
- is working on a book about the Michigan
state cross country meet's history. MR
We’ve
moved!
Great Lakes Sports
Publications
and
Michigan Runner
have a new address:
4007 Carpenter Road, #366
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Photo courtesy of Ryan Neely
Ryan Neely
Photo courtesy of Ross Martin
Ben Steavenson
Phone, FAX and email
have not changed:
(734) 507-0241
(734) 434-4765 FAX
info@glsp.com
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